The present invention relates to a heating device for golf balls. It has been shown in the past that warm golf balls will travel further and respond better when hit by a golf club. Normally, in warm weather climates and warm seasons, the temperature of the golf ball is not critical. However, in colder climates or in early and late seasons such as spring and fall, the exterior temperature of a golf ball can drop to the point where it can seriously affect the performance of the golf ball. To avoid this drop in performance, various heating devices have been proposed for keeping golf balls warm when playing under cold and/or wet conditions.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,497,676 to Gravatt discloses a golf ball warmer that uses solar energy from the sun to heat the golf balls within a container, or alternatively, uses a battery connected to heating coils for heating the balls. There are several disadvantages associated with using Gravatt's warmer. First, the warmer must be positioned on a golf cart or golf bag in an optimum position to receive the rays of the sun. This can be awkward and impossible, at times, when shadows form across the golf course from trees, hills, etc. Second, the entire warmer must be opened to remove a single ball which exposes all of the remaining balls and warmer to the cold elements. Third, solar and battery power are very weak sources of energy that would be generally unreliable for keeping golf balls consistently warm on a cold or wet day.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,461 to Arimoto discloses a warmer that improves on Gravatt's design by exposing only a single ball when the container is opened. However the device of this patent suffers from a heating source located only at one end of the device. This allows for only heating one ball at a time. Many times during the game of golf, more than one ball is needed at one time, especially if two or more golfers are sharing balls or if a golfer hits into a water or similar hazard. The Arimoto device is inconvenient because of this one-at-a-time heating feature.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,002 to Cohen discloses a warmer that heats a plurality of balls at the same time, while using an end chamber for removing a ball from the container without exposing the other balls to the cold or wet elements. Cohen's warming device resolves many of the disadvantages of the warmers shown in the previous two patents. However, its removal chamber makes the device unnecessarily complicated and costly. Furthermore, while the conventional AC electric power source is a strong power source, it is unavailable to a golfer while on the course. Even with the special golf ball removal chamber, heat will dissipate from Cohen's container long before a golfer can finish 9 or 18 holes. Thus, Cohen's device must ultimately rely on a weaker and more expensive power source such as batteries, as hinted within his specification.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,362 to Hendricks discloses a heating device that is superior to all of the aforementioned devices. Hendricks uses a disposable hand and body warmer for chemically heating the inner chamber of a ball warming device. This chemical heating element is stronger than solar power, is less expensive than battery power, and is fully portable as opposed to standard AC household power. Another advantage to the warming device of Hendricks is that it is much simpler in design and use than the aforementioned devices. However, there are still several distinct disadvantages associated with the use of Hendrick's device.
First, the container is divided into two halves that separate to expose all of the balls to the cold elements when retrieving a single ball. Second, the container is relatively large compared to the golf balls which causes inefficient heating of the open air surrounding the balls. Third, the asymmetrical nature of the storage arrangement of the golf balls causes the balls furthest from the heating element to be heated the least. Fourth, the disposable heating element is loosely positioned within the container where it can accidentally fall out of the container when a ball is retrieved. Fifth, the disposable heating element is exposed to the cold elements across its entire surface when the container is opened causing further unnecessary dissipation of heat. Thus, the disposable heating elements are not used as efficiently as possible and wear out quickly, in use.